Tripping up.

Every week I trip up (a.k.a. indulging) slightly on a day or two, and I usually trip up SERIOUSLY once a week (twice on bad weeks). I should weather this week's trip ups as I've been active nearly every day. But if I actually want to get anywhere, weathering will no longer be enough.

When it comes down to it, I'm doing better about the food I choose when I'm out. I know that once I'm regularly active, I will have more leeway with my food choices. In the meantime, I've got to take more control of what I'm putting in my body if I want to be healthy.

In the old weight watchers world, you get a certain amount of daily points depending on your weight, and an extra 35 points to use up over the week when you need. This is so you don't end up worrying too excessively about restricting every single day and not indulging ever. That said, your best losses happen when you don't dig into those weekly points. Also, more points are gained for being active.

I find that my most successful weeks come when I maintain my daily points, eat more when I'm active, using up my activity points, and don't touch my weekly points.

This week I over ate beyond my daily points by 54. FIFTY FOUR. That's absolutely unacceptable. So how am I going to weather it? In addition to my 35 weekly points, I've also gained an extra 14 points through activity. To compensate, I will go for my planned C25K run and I will have to tack on a 30-Day Shred at the end of the evening.

So I'm documenting my trip-ups in hopes that I don't make the same mistakes week after week.

Trip ups, week of Nov 22-28 

Nov 22: 7.5 points over for the day
Dinner.
Had too hefty a serving of Butternut Squash/Lentils/Walnuts, and covered it in butter to moisten it up (this would have not been so bad if I either halved my serving, or didn't add butter to it)

Post Dinner.
Was feeling down and had one whole wheat waffle with a bunch of chocolate chips on it (this is self-explanatory...bad choice)

Nov 23: 4.5 points over for the day
Dinner.
Was unprepared with food at home and ended up getting Swiss Chalet (chose healthy, but it's still Swiss Chalet)

Nov 25: 6 points over for the day
Lunch.
Went out for pho had the small serving. (I would have been full only eating half of it, but I ate the whole thing. It kept me so full that I didn't need to eat the rest of the day... also not good practice)

Nov 26: 33 points over for the day
Breakfast and post-karate snack.
Ate well to compensate for a good amount of activity (had I stayed the course I would have had a great day)

Lunch.
Had a kids cheeseburger when we stopped for my partner to eat (I could have done without and waited until I got home)

Dinner.
Took a friend out to a buffet (DANGER WILL ROBINSON! I probably didn't even count for all of what I ate, and ended up eating more than what I should in an entire day)

Nov 27: 2.5 points over for the day
Breakfast.
Went out for to a diner and the 'healthy' option was a bagel and cream cheese...ended up going with the eggs benny (didn't end up eating until I had a snack just before bed)

Late snack.
Piece of toast with half an avocado (a quarter probably would have been sufficient)

Just keeping busy.

It's not January yet, but I've set myself some goals. After all, your new year starts when YOU want it to, no? It's all about your mindset.

I'm excited to start a bunch of new activities. It may look like I'm overloading myself, but even if I achieve one of these goals I'll be happy. So I'm going to start and try my best, pushing to become a ‘me’ with more strength, confidence, focus, and endurance.

So what have I lain out on the table?

#1: Couch to 5K, or C25K as it's known in acronym format.

I'm no longer waiting for a Running Room class to start and follow a schedule. I'm going when I'm able to go, running with the music I want to hear, and being instructed by a cool iPhone app to keep me informed of my intervals. I’m starting with jogging. I’ve never been a runner, and I still have to pay good attention to the impact on my knee.

I did my first 'run' (it was mostly walking) tonight, and it felt quite easy. Then again, the program is made for people who literally are just getting off the couch; I've been slowly building my cardio up in the last little while.

Actual goal: Complete the program by the end of January. 

Follow-up goal: Find a 5k run sometime thereafter and sign up for it.  

#2: Heavy Lifting

I am shifting my weight training to more of a heavy lifting program. I received some inspiration this week from a blog post that's been making waves in the online fitness community. While I don't need to deadlift more than twice my weight, I do like the philosophy behind building dense muscle and think that I could make some real progress if I start training this way. 

I've turned to this article at bodydbuilding.com and plan to work into it slowly; making sure my form is perfected before moving into really heavy weight. Once I'm ready, I'll be doing their sample workout.

Actual goal: Spend the next little bit getting comfortable with my form.

Follow-up goal: Start phase one of the program. 

#3 Karate

I went to my second self-defense seminar at my partner's dojo. The first time I went, his Sensei said something that stuck with me: 'Not everyone needs to be a black belt, but everyone should train." This time around, I got enough of an itch that I decided not to wait any longer. I picked up my gi on Wednesday and I have my first class tomorrow.

Actual goal: Attend classes twice a week. 

Follow-up goal: Go for my yellow belt... you know, when I'm told I'm ready to do so ;) 

So yes, I'll be busy for a good while. Still, I don't think it will be too much. After all, look at me…I’m blogging on a Friday night. More importantly, I know that the only way I will achieve the changes I have desired for so long in my life is to put myself first.

Watch out, here I come.

What's this?

According to Weight Watchers (old program, that I do on my own), I had a really bad week. I overindulged at the pot luck and its leftovers on Monday and Tuesday. I overate at sushi on Saturday. And the little things that pop up over a normal week just ended up accounting for too much extra overall. I used up my 35 weekly points, used up the 13.5 activity points I gained, and still went over by another 3.5 points.

Nonetheless, I still lost weight. It was a small amount, but it was still a loss. So if I can do that while failing miserably on my eating habits, think about what I can achieve if I really set my mind to it. I'm on a great high today after a great workout yesterday, and I'm motivated to keep this feeling going.

Therefore I've set some goals for this week:
Food - Take an honest look at what I'm eating and if I'm maximizing my portions and quality of my food.
Exercise - Do yoga at least four mornings this week. Head to the gym on Tuesday & Thursday for 90 minutes. Head to the gym on Saturday for as long as I need.

Simple.

The slow road back to reality.

So, the summer has been a bit insane. So insane that it's November already. Frantic goings on pretty much until the beginning of October, including a (successful) black belt grading for my partner (YAY YAY YAY!), and new job for me (YAY YAY YAY!).

These insane summer months were followed by a big decision-making October. While most people went out and enjoyed our 30 degree weather over the Thanksgiving weekend, we mostly stayed in and tried to catch up on our lives. It was pretty sad, but we really needed to figure out where we stood and made some decisions to help us move forward.

And with those decisions tucked away, it was time to re-enter the lifestyle we want. It's amazing how coming out of downfalls can take so long. Week one of meal planning still had me eating out once or twice. In week two, I prepared all my meals, not eating out once. Nonethelss, there were a couple of pot-lucks at work and I indugled where I shouldn't have.

Today, I walked into the office and saw that someone brought in coffee and timbits. It looked like there was a homemade cake sitting out on the table as well, but I've done my best not to look too closely. Later this morning, I was offered a piece of red velvet cake layered with icing. It looked so scrumptious but I said no, and I asked my coworker if she could keep it out of sight for me. The less I have to look at something, the less I have to say no to it. Little victories!

Things have been much the same on the exercise end of things. I started out with a couple of tries at my yoga-lite program. There were a few days at the gym, too, where I just went in and said that I would just go and do. They didn't make for fantastic workouts, but I needed to just do SOMETHING.

Last night was my first regimented workout. We wrote out an activity list for me and I followed it. Next stop, picking some classes I want to attend, and deciding on a regular schedule for myself.

I know it's been a slow, uphill battle, but if doing it this way will help me succeed, then this is what I need to do.

Pieces of the Pie, Part III: Mental Health

When I broke up these posts, I only expected to look at nutrition and exercise. But it's become abundantly clear that my mental health plays a big part in my success, and how I manage myself along my path.

I feel like someone split in two. Half of me has these great goals, and I'm doing everything I can to achieve them. I truly feel that I'm walking the walk and not just spewing the right words. I'm eating well. I'm excersising. I feel great! I've got some life goals with plans set out in front of me...

...but I'm stuck. We`ve come up with a five-year plan, and I'm so excited by it. Unfortunately the first step is to find work within a reasonable distance from where we want to make our new home. And it's TOUGH. I've been looking and looking and looking. I've been applying and have actually had a good amount of interviews, considering that I generally compete with about 400 applicants for the types of jobs I'm looking at. That increases at this time of year when job postings become rare.

And then there's my current job. You all know very well how unhappy I am, whether you know why or not. I feel that it takes some kind of insanity to return time and time again to a place that sucks the life out of you. I catch myself thinking 'I hate my life' and remember that it's 'I hate my job'.

I've felt like I'm just not good enough more than once along this path, and it's getting harder and harder to get re-energized. Doing my exercises and eating well gives me a great sense of fulfillment, but it's short-lived.

I wish I could end this post on a good note, but I haven't the energy left to do so. And seriously, you're all my friends. I'm not going to hide what I'm going through from you.

Pieces of the Pie, Part II: Exercise (a.k.a, half eaten pie)

I split up this post because I felt that I was going to write a huge story between the three topics. So I put part two down for a couple of days, with expectations of telling you where I started, how I was doing, and what plans were for the near future. The funny thing is that I feel a bit off track already!

I guess I should begin at the beginning (good place, no?).

After about 5 weeks of good eating habits developed and weight stabilized, I felt that it was time to inject the exercise and start seeing some results. Thomas and I hit the gym two weekends ago, on a day where we had nothing else planned. That way we could go through it at our own pace and not feel rushed about getting out of there.



It was GREAT. I can't remember the last time I felt so good about working out. It re-energized the way I was looking at life and everything that's been going on.

The best part is that we kept going. Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday...exercises of varying degrees, from a neighbourhood walk to a killer home video to a couple more trips to the gym. By Saturday afternoon I was so exhausted that I couldn't formulate thoughts properly. We pushed on, making sure that our responisbilities to others didn't fall to the wayside.

And then suddenly we'd been given more responsibilities by our community. Now, getting out of a rhythm that you've barely gotten going can be a game breaker. But these responsibilities need to take priority for about 10 days or so, and then we can get back to it.

In the meantime we'll just have to squeeze our exercise in where we can and get back to the full on game as soon as possible.

Pieces of the Pie (Pi? Pye?), Part I: Nutrition.



...mmm pie :) (I kid. I actually don't miss pie that much. It was never a big thing for me.)

So it's been a while since I've updated on my physical health and nutritional well-being. And that's mostly because I was starting something new. It's a mesh of some great ideas from something called the ABS diet (it's an acronym, not an ab-focused diet), the old weight watchers, and the eventual re-incorporation of exercise (to be updated in another post).

About six weeks ago I made the decision to cut the crap out of my diet. The biggest piece of that was to quit drinking pop and eating fried potatoes of any sort. The funny thing is that cutting them out together made quitting eating both of them a lot easier. Anytime I craved a 'happy meal' in its various forms, I realized that two thirds of what was included I'm no longer eating.

I'm also including some food that I was afraid to for a long time due to their fat content - avocado and assorted nuts. Under the Weight Watcher regime, their fat content was too high and pushed the points numbers up. Because I'm not as strict with the numbers, I toss in some nuts or avocado into a big healthy salad, a sandwich, or some snacks. And I shot my fibre intake way up.

I didn't track calories or points for the first few weeks. I still ate out, just made sure that I was choosing the healthiest choice available. Sushi, salads, vegetarian burritos without the heavy stuff like refried beans.

And I didn't gain any weight. Previously, any time I didn't diligently track what I was eating, the pounds would go up in slow increments over time. At one point I stopped tracking for so long that I gained 14 lbs. I started tracking again, lost it, stopped and gained 4 lbs back. So here I was, over a six-week period with no weight gain and no tracking....

I honestly hadn't thought about tracking again. But a good friend found me on MyFitnessPal and I thought I'd do so again so that we could encourage each other. The site also makes it easier for me to track Weight Watchers style to keep me in check. After all, the only major weight loss I've ever had was on the old WW progam.

So I'm back, and I'm feeling great about what I'm doing.